Habitat
Riparian vegetation or otherwise near water. Open woodlands with sparse shrubby understorey, and bare ground-layer or sparse ground-cover of grass.
Australia: south-western Western Australia (Wongan Hills east to Point Culver), and central-eastern Queensland south to Victoria and southern South Australia (extending west to eastern fringe of Simpson-Strzelecki Deserts, Murray-Mallee, Flinders Ranges and Eyre Peninsula).
Habits
Usually singly or in pairs, often in association with Willie-wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) and Jacky-Winter (Microeca fascinans).
Food
Arthropods, mainly insects.
Voice
Grindings sounds, often uttered in flight. Also a rasping 'zhap', singly or repeated, 'zhap-zhapzhapzgapzhapzhap'. A clear whistle 'chewee, chewee, chewee', with each phase rising at the end.
Nest
Cup-shaped, composed of fibrous naterials bound with cobweb, often decorated with lichen, lined with hair or feathers, cuilt on a horizontal fork between 1 and 20 m above the ground. Often nests in association with Willie-wagtail (Rhipidura leucophrys) and Magpie-lark (Grallina cyanoleuca).
Eggs (Guide)
3 or 4; dull to greyish white with small markings of grey-brown or lavender usually in a band at the center or at the larger end; oval; about 21 x 16 mm. Incubation: about 14 days; by both sexes.
Young
Altricial, nidicolous. Fledge in about 14 days.
Subspecies
No subspecies.
Forms a superspecies with Paperbark Flycatcher (Myiagra nana) and previously treated as conspecific, but differs in plumage, bill structure, size and vocalizations.
The Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Pizzey, G., and Knight, E., 1997, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 19691 5
Field Guide to Australian Birds Morecombe, M., 2000, Steve Parish Publishing Pty Ltd. ISBN 1 876282 10 X
Field Guide to the Birds of Australia Simpson, K., and Day, N., 1999, 6th Edition, Viking ISBN 0 670 87918 5
Reader's Digest Complete Book of Australian Birds 1988, 2nd Edition, Reader's Digest ISBN 0 949819 99 9
What Bird is That? 1984, Revised Edition, Angus & Robertson, Sydney ISBN 0 207 14846 5
Handbook of Australian, New Zealand & Antarctic Birds 1990 - , Oxford University Press, Melbourne ISBN 0 19 553244 9
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BirdLife International Species Factsheet